Some global bifurcation results for variational inequalities (Q1815642)

The paper contains a general topological degree approach to a class of bifurcation problems for variational inequalities. This approach is a useful consideration which leads to new results or other proofs of known results. The main problem is here to extend results concerning topological degree to variational inequalities. More precisely, the problem is defined by \(u\in V:\langle A(u)- B(u,\lambda),v-u\rangle+ j(v)-j(u)\geq 0\) for all \(v\in V\), where \(V\) is a reflexive Banach space, \(A: V\to V^*\) a monotone coercive operator, \(B:V\times R\to V^*\) a completely continuous mapping, \(j: V\to R\cup\{\infty\}\) a proper, convex, lower semicontinuous functional and \(\lambda\) denotes the real eigenvalue parameter. In Section 3, the author applies his results to buckling problems for plates and to \(p\)-Laplacian type problems.